Macy's Shuts Doors After 78 Years

ATLANTA-Macy’s Department Store has left Downtown after 78 years, but the 63-year-old, 663,157-sf, six-story building, which had housed the retailer’s 305,517 sf on three levels, isn’t hurting.

Re-named the AtlantaXchange Building at 180 Peachtree St., New York owners Taconic Investment Partners, Angelo Gordon & Co. and New York-based Benenson Capital Co. have the structure about 80% leased, area office brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com.

After purchasing the former Davison Department Store building in August 2000 for $40 million (60.31 per sf) from Macy’s parent, St. Louis-based Federation Department Stores Inc., the new owners invested about $8 million in renovations. The interior new look paid off with leases to Level 3 Communications Inc., 203,377 sf; Colo.com, 55,285 sf; and Time Warner Telecom, 17,940 sf, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.

Macy’s had occupied the basement, mezzanine and first floors of the Peachtree Street building and was Atlanta’s last Downtown department store. Other retailers who previously lost out to suburban competition were Woolworth’s and the S&W Cafeteria.

Macy’s closed 80,000-sf stores a week ago at Perimeter and Lenox Square malls where Federated is converting the stores to Bloomingdale’s, another Federated brand.

At Northlake Mall, a Macy’s is now Rich’s-Macy’s. By year end, Macy’s at Town Center at Cobb will allocate one floor as a furniture gallery. Macy’s also plans to close stores at Gwinnett Place, Cumberland and Southlake malls.